Women get another Euroseries alongside Champions League – Soccernet.ee

The UEFA Executive Committee has officially confirmed that from 2025, another club Euroseries will be launched alongside the Women’s Champions League. However, the Champions League itself is undergoing a format change.

First of all from the Champions League, which started women’s football in 2001, i.e. 22 years ago. Starting in the 2025-26 season, the main tournament will be a league format competition featuring 18 women’s teams. The men’s Champions League also underwent a similar reform a year earlier, where the group stage is also replaced by a league format tournament with the participation of 36 teams. Currently, women play in the subgroup tournament in four groups with the participation of 16 teams.

However, while in the men’s Euroseries, to which the Conference League was added two years ago as the third Euroseries, the UEFA Cup Series and the second Euroseries known as the Europa League have existed for decades, the women have so far only had to deal with the Champions League League.

The format of the Women’s Champions League was only renewed in 2021. Before then, a qualifying tournament was played in ten groups of four, from which only the group winners advanced. Awaiting them were 22 women’s teams among the top 32, who thanks to the coefficient table did not have to pass the preliminary round. The tournament continued in the form of game screenings.

However, two years ago, the number of participants increased from 62 women’s teams to 72, and the preliminary rounds were held as four-man mini-tournaments, consisting of semi-finals and a final. Furthermore, the path of the national champions was separated from that of the runners-up of the top championships, but only the champions of Germany, France, Spain and England entered directly into the subgroup, i.e. the 16. The quarterfinals followed the subgroup tournament, the semi-finals and the final.

Two women’s teams are now added to the main tournament. They no longer play three opponents there in the home system, but each women’s team plays six games against six different opponents. Who exactly are you dealing with? To explain this, the clubs are divided into three strength groups according to the ranking formed on the basis of the coefficient table. In order for the calendar to be as balanced as possible, two opponents from each strength group will be drawn for each team: one will play at home and the other in a foreign field.

Then, based on the ranking, the four best women’s teams, which will directly advance to the quarterfinals, will be determined in places 5-12. the final clubs explain however playoff-with the matches against them in the eight-man group. All of this should ensure that each game carries more weight.

🔥 New format for @UWCL + more chances to play in Europe!

👑 Starting from 2025/26, the #UWCL it will feature a more competitive and dynamic single championship phase with 18 teams.

🆕 A second competition for women’s clubs will also be launched, with a direct elimination formula.

AYNTK: ⤵️ — UEFA (@UEFA) December 4, 2023

One way or another, it is clear that even with the new format it will be extremely difficult for the Estonian women’s national team to get a place in the main Champions League tournament. But does the second series of the euro offer a better opportunity in this regard and what does it entail?

UEFA has not yet widely publicized the exact format, nor the name of the league. But one thing is clear: to directly access the main tournament you need to be among the top 24 in the national rankings. Taking into account that Estonia is currently in 40th place in the 50-country competition, the focus must be on continuing into the new Euroseries via the Champions League.

At the same time, there you also have to win the qualifying round, to be able to qualify for a new series if you lose in the next round. Both the losers of the second preliminary round and the women’s teams who placed second or third in the preliminary round subgroups will have their chance. However, the main tournament of the new series is already played entirely under the screening match system and according to the away-at-home principle, with a total of 64 women’s teams participating.